Turkey issues new extradition request for officers in Greece

Turkish military officers, center, escorted by Greek police officers, arrive at the Supreme Court in Athens,Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. A group of Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece in a military helicopter after last year's failed coup have appeared at Greece's Supreme Court in a closely watched extradition hearing. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
(The Associated Press)

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey's justice ministry has made a new extradition request after Greece's Supreme Court ruled against sending back eight Turkish servicemen who fled their country by helicopter after a coup attempt.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported Friday that the justice ministry had sent a second extradition request for the eight Turkish officers.

Greece's Supreme Court Thursday rejected Ankara's first request on the basis that the servicemen were unlikely to face a fair trial if returned to Turkey.

Lower courts had issued mixed decisions on the return of the officers in a series of separate hearings.

The extradition case has soured complicated ties between neighbors and NATO allies Greece and Turkey, which remain at odds over war-divided Cyprus and boundaries in the Aegean Sea.